The financial services industry is continuously adapting to the changing consumer needs while keeping up with new tech and economic trends. We recently sat down with Callum Potter-Edwards, Relationship Manager, Financial Services for Worldpay, to discuss how he sees the future of payments shaping the lending industry in the U.K.

It’s all about customer experience (CX)

The cost-of-living crisis is heavily influencing consumer behavior with 81% of Brits changing their shopping habits to adapt to economic changes¹. Increasing demand for value products and services is affecting the lending space, pushing for more competition. As consumer credit grows by 4.8% this year², lenders need to think about meeting their customers where they are most comfortable. Offering various alternative payment methods (APMs) – from digital wallets to open banking – could be key.

Customers also expect their lenders to emphasize the security of the services they offer. In fact, 33% of the British public now believes that businesses are responsible for mitigating risk in financially uncertain times³.

Worldpay has solutions to help you provide a more secure and seamless lending experience:

• FraudSight, our award-winning⁴ defense management system, which combines data insights, machine-learning technology and our team of experts to protect against fraud.
• Our Account Updater tool, which helps to ensure your business has the most up-to-date stored consumer card credentials.

Another way lenders can show support is by optimizing your know your customer (KYC) process. Ensuring the identity of your customers is correct could ward off fraudulent activity and help improve your loan repayment rate. Ultimately, this could assist you in delivering a simpler and more secure payment journey.

The right payments partner can help

If you are looking for a new payments partner, don’t forget to ask about how they can enhance your CX. From reducing declined payments to delivering the required market insights to your business, a strong payments provider could bring the right combination of products and services to support your company so you can focus on your customers.

Worldpay is striving to design seamless experiences for merchants. Whether you’re looking for accepting payments faster, streamlining the payout process or safeguarding customer transactions, we have 30+ years of payments expertise to guide you. Get in touch today to learn more about how we can help you create the experiences your customers need.

You can watch the full interview and explore other insights from industry experts here.

¹ How current events are shaping UK consumer behavior | McKinsey & Company
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/survey-uk-consumer-sentiment-during-the-coronavirus-crisis

² UK business lending to contract sharply this year as recessionary pressures intensify, but growth forecast from 2024 | EY
https://www.ey.com/en_uk/news/2023/02/uk-business-lending-to-contract-sharply-this-year

³ How the cost of living crisis is changing people's behaviours and their spending | PWC
https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/risk/rethink-risk/insights/how-the-cost-of-living-crisis-is-changing-people-s-behaviours-an.html

⁴ Worldpay's FraudSight, Powered by Featurespace, Wins "Best Technology Initiative" at The Card & Payments Awards 2022 | Feature Space
https://www.featurespace.com/newsroom/worldpays-fraudsight-powered-by-featurespace-wins-best-technology-initiative-at-the-the-card-payments-awards-of-2022/